A little dose of inspiration for you…

I finally had a chance to sit down and close out the 4th quarter of 2008, and thought I'd share some interesting blog stats with you. Stats are incredibly important in my book. They help you gauge progress, and give you a starting point for creating new goals and challenges for yourself.

I'm sharing this with you for two reasons. And certainly not to brag, because these stats may not be that impressive to some. Its all relative. But I'm sharing them with you to inspire & motivate you, and also to let you know what's working really well for me...

I'll start by confessing that I dont work that hard at blog promotion. I could, given my background in online marketing, but I dont. Call me a lazy blogger if you like (fair enough), but the point is that you can easily achieve the same (or much, much better) results yourself.

I optimize my posts as I go for specific keyword phrases. I mention my blog posts on Twitter, and have my blog URL in my Twitter bio. And I have a blog broadcast set up through Aweber so that my readers can get updates every week on new posts here at the blog - which is completely automated.

So as you can see I am not out there commenting like mad, doing guests posts, article marketing, actively getting new inbound links, creating 300 squidoo lenses, stumbling or digging my own posts, or any of that stuff. I'm just blogging and tweeting, and letting the rest happen naturally.

Hmm. I should mention that I'm fairly active on MySpace and Facebook, but I dont do any hardcore marketing there either.

All that said, here is the interesting point that I wanted to share with you:

The month of December was my best month yet. Both in terms of traffic, and income. I was 259 shy of having 20,000 unique visitors, and my income that last quarter was more than double what it was in the first quarter of 2008.

That's interesting enough in itself, but if you remember... I was off on vacation in Australia for two whole weeks during the month of December, and came home just a week before Christmas - followed by New Years. 2 weeks vacation + 2 major holidays, well - it's not as if I was actively "working" that month.

And therein lies the real inspiration.

I'm even inspired. I am so inspired by what I accomplished (so easily) last year, that I'm motivated to actually work at it this year!

This is how I doubled my income (passively):

It's simple really. My winning combination is: Affiliate Marketing, SEO & Info Products. I use Affiliate Marketing and also my own products to monetize my blog posts, and then use SEO to make sales passively.

And by Info Products, I'm referring to cheap reports - and often sold elsewhere (not even through my blog) via the Fast Cash Strategy method. These reports have links in them as well, so they earn both on the front end and the back end - generally via affiliate sales.

That Fast Cash Strategy is my own personal method, by the way. I dont sell it publicly (yet) but I do let my readers download the first edition for only $10. You can read more about that here.

Obviously if you dont monetize your blog posts (or web pages), you're not going to make any money. No amount of unique content and good search engine rankings is going to fix that.

Personally, I have found that Affiliate Marketing and having your own info products (even if they're just cheap reports) are the two best ways to make money online. And I'll tell you why: both allow you to earn money passively, even if you're away from your computer for days - or weeks - at a time.

Obviously your content has to be seen in order for it to convert into sales, which is where the SEO comes in. And for those of you new to the scene, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It basically just means optimizing your pages for specific keyword phrases so that they rank well in the major search engines for those phrases.

Buried Blog Posts, That Still Crank Out Sales.

"Oh, okay - I get it," you say. "You're blogging about products and people are buying them. But how is that passive?" It's not. Blogging on a regular basis takes a bit of a commitment, as you've probably discovered by now.

But let's go back to December's stats. While I was on vacation I did very little blogging. I had several guest posts, and my own posts were photo & video updates from my trip to Australia.

The key is in having your money posts rank well, so they continuously make sales for you - even if you're away, or busy blogging about something else.

And by the way, if your blog posts usually rank well and then tank out of Google completely, you'll want to see this post: Rank & Tank. It explains how I manage to get - and keep - those good rankings.

Of course, in addition to making money directly my blog has also contributed to the growth and sales on my other websites. It has been a great way to get more newsletter subscribers, forum members and webinar attendees for example.

Blogs are powerful. I hope this inspires you to start blogging, keep blogging, or get more serious about blogging. As I said earlier, it didnt take much for me to achieve these results - and you can easily do the same!

Best,

p.s. This needs to be the year that you start earning 5-figures per month from Affiliate Marketing. Stay tuned, because next I am going to dig into an in-depth review of some of the best Affiliate Marketing guides on the 'net.

And a quick reminder - there's less than a week to register for the hands-on workshop in Atlanta where we'll be there to help you learn it one-on-one

This is by far the clearest and most direct Internet marketing info of any kind I've ever read. And I've read a lot more than I care to admit.

On a coaching call yesterday, the suggestion was made that I change WAHumor.com into a blog from its current regular ol' website status. I think I'd prefer it that way, but I'm still checking out what it might entail.

This is most certainly the year I must make serious money, and blogging may just be the way to "get 'er done"!!

Lynn, your info is always easy to understand, important - and most importantly backed by experience.
The internet, indeed, is a large school of very hungry fish looking to for info on how to make money online. And, unfortunately, lots of those trying to make that money - are trying to teach it without the experience to back it up.
The challenge for me has been to find something of interest to me - that can become an info product. I don't want to just "grab" someone elses real expertise - rewrite it and put it out there. That doesn't seem right - and I feel the internet is getting full of that.
Info products are the best way to go - but what do you do if that is not your "thing"?
Nan

Lynn, this is a terrific example of how simple you keep showing us this business model can be. Though simple, it still means commitment, consistency, common sense and direction. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and strategy. Making it come alive in my own situation will be a major goal this year. Thanks for the inspiration. Best for now,
Mary

I am happy to know that others are successful.
The growth for the entire year of 2008 is great. Looks like a 30%-40% increase in everything.

You did mention that you sell your own products and this is a very important thing. It is better to sell your own product than someone else. This is where the real money starts.

@ Sherri
I think a blog is perfect for new webmasters it's easy to maintain and can teach the basics of owning a website. Once you spend about a year blogging you can better understand what it takes to run a more involved larger site.
You can be successful in any niche. IM will take more work and time. People always say IM is where the money is, but the truth is 90% of niches make money. IM'ers are the only ones that tell you how much they are making and give stats. This is a great thing because it inform and inspire others. I saw john Chow's check and became a IM'er instantly.

I saw start with a blog in a small niche and take your time making it grow and top the SERP's for your keyword. Take the time to test Adsense and Affiliate programs and build a solid understanding of both. Start from the bottom and remember to KISS (Keep it simple silly)
It is not a JOB its a business your business.

Dan & Sherri - I have both, blogs and static websites, and both earn me just as well as the other. Dont get bogged down about platforms and technical details - the real point is to put content out there offers value and has a call-to-action. Period.

That said, obviously there are some things that are better than others - like WordPress on your own domain is better than Blogger or any other free hosted service. But so long as you're working on your own domain, the platform is much less important than the content & the consistency.

My question is - what if you’re not in the Internet Marketing niche? Can you still be successful with Affiliate Marketing?

Of course! There is tons of money to be made in Affiliate Marketing, in a wide variety of niches! We discussed this on today's webinar actually. Consider the last product you bought on the internet. Personally, I have recently purchased:

A PS3, software, video games, a mini HD video camera, make-up, roller skates, books, home decor, and even coffee! Last year I even bought my computer desk, television & dishwasher online.

Lynn,
As you know, I am just getting ready to launch my ecommerce site. I am also very interested in setting up some affiliate sites for more passive income, but beyond understanding the concept, don't have much going on there. Would this workshop be a good way to get started, or better served served for someone who is ready to jump in feet first? I am thinking the latter might be more of the case. Your thoughts?

Surly ClickNewz is the Capitol of the Blogging World.
And you are the Queen of it
(Queen Lynn)
$5000 a month I believe you. that I will
Following you while beginning to live out my own success.
In your Debt
Ian UK

Definitely an inspirational post. I have learned so much from you and I'm thankful for that. Still have a long way to go but I'm starting to finally 'get it', this whole Internet/Affiliate marketing and SEO thing.

Far from it, Ian While I am considered a "pro blogger" (meaning this is what I do full time and I make money at it), I'm more of a casual/passion blogger in the grand scheme of things.

This blog (clicknewz.com) is relatively new - not even 3 years on this domain yet. I could have grown it much faster of course, but have really enjoyed taking my time getting a feel for it and getting comfortable with this new publishing model (after years of doing it 'old school')

As yet I haven't read anything I didn't or didn't infuse me with inspiration.
You are a writing machine.
I always seem to get something out of what you write.
I really appreciate the walk through types of Posts that you do for example

Awesome post Lynn. I'm very grateful for all your help in 2008 via your blog posts, SSWT, webinars, etc. I followed your advice on creating high quality, low price info products and I love how they just keep earning day in and day out. I always follow your fast cash strategy principles selling my guides. I still get a kick that I can be Kayaking in Mexico and someone bought my $10 guide while I was paddling away.

I would like to mention that social marketing like your tweetering and facebook works much better for the pretty faces such as yourself. Your sparkling headshot gets the click. Yes you do back this up with great content. But what about the ugly car mechanics.

My point is I have three hundred followers after a year of tweeter. A hot girl posts her pretty face and has 500 followers in 1 hour.

In response to Mark the Car Mechanic, I'm relatively new to Twitter, but I would venture to say that the pretty face can have a lot to do with followers, BUT a snappy bio, and tweet content is what will determine the longevity of those followers. The Twitterers that have the most followers are honestly the one's that give back to the community the most.

So, you have to ask yourself - what are you tweeting about?? Is it of interest to the types of followers that you want?

Thanks a lot for sharing again. You are a big inspiration to me. I am definitely taking my blogging seriously this year and it is all down to learning so much from you. I plan to increase my subscribers, revamp my blog and must importantly offer value to my visitors. Have a great day.

Someone asked above if it would be a similar success being an affiliate outside the Internet marketing niche.

Even better, I have found that niches are much better in a variety of ways, whle the IM niche is very active it is also a little jaded, where as the niches aren't like that so much.

Those people you write for in the niches seem to be responsive in a different way altoghter, seems that those marketing tactics and ideas which annoy those in the IM niche itself work far better in the niches.

Blog about a niche and APPLY what you learn in IM, apply what Lynn teaches here and you will have an easier time of it.

Then you have your own proof of what works by doing which means you can then blog or teach about what you learned in the niches.

Hi Lynn,
you are my inspiration! I have still a lot to learn, but reading about how you are going, and what you do, is truly inspiring.
Yes, I have got your "Fast Cash Strategies" report and will put it to good use this year!
Here is to a brilliant 2009!

The lack of apostrophe's is a personal quirk of my writing style, always has been. And one of many I might add. I type over 100 wpm. I also share some pretty decent tips at a very reasonable price (free).

It's all about where your focus is when you're reading along here at ClickNewz. Pick up what you can, apply it, ask questions if you have them... and feel free to let me know when you think I'm doing a fabulous job.

What I think is special about your posts is that they are extremely easy to understand - you really K-I-S-S and you still provide valuable information even for those who are somewhat experienced in the field of internet marketing.

Thank you for sharing your strategy on your blog. I think it makes a lot of sense. How much traffic do you get from social networks? I can imagine it might be a considerable amount. Does it pay off to be active on facebook to drive traffic to blogs?

This is good beginning advice. Anyone who expects to earn significant money after a short period of time without the research,support,consistency, and with a clear succinct messeage will noot be successful.

Our biggest asset is time and if utilized properly, on point, and with a new and interesting slant.

Welcome to Clicknewz!

Lynn Terry is a Professional Blogger, Super Affiliate, and full-time Internet Marketer with over 18 years experience in online business. ClickNewz is where she shares creative marketing ideas and... more »